* Above, swine flu love in Centro, by Conrad Starr.
The most critical news of Day 7 of the swine flu scare was this: "Scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza -- at least in its current form -- isn't shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics."
L.A. Times writers Karen Kaplan and Alan Zarembo lay it all out: the H1N1 virus does not spell the Apocalypse. However, here in Mexico, the social and political waves surrounding its outbreak could possibly. The national economy, again, looks to be devastated by the outbreak. And politically, we're in dark and uncharted territory. John Ackerman pointedly argues in Slate that President Felipe Calderon is using the swine flu crisis to indulge his authoritarian tendencies:
On Saturday, he issued a decree that places the entire country under a state of emergency. He has authorized his health secretary to inspect and seize any person or possessions, set up check points, enter any building or house, ignore procurement rules, break up public gatherings, and close down entertainment venues. The decree states that this situation will continue "for as long as the emergency lasts."
This action violates the Mexican Constitution, which normally requires the government to obtain a formal judicial order before violating citizens' civil liberties. Even when combating a "grave threat" to society, the president is constitutionally required to get congressional approval for any suspension of basic rights. There are no exceptions to this requirement.
[...]
"States of emergency" turn into excuses for the long-term rollback of democratic freedoms and civil liberties. The response to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, led to the dangerous erosion of fundamental guarantees throughout the world, including the rights to privacy, movement, association, and a fair trial. In Latin America, there is a long history of using states of emergency as ploys to justify military action and a return to authoritarianism. This has happened most recently in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.
Patrick Corcoran elaborates further on the president's campaign of encroachment on individual rights, starting with cell phones. Now, as a political figure, Calderon is indistinct, colorless, and stiff-collared -- and that's precisely what makes him so dangerous. On Wednesday night in a national address he more or less told the citizenry to rally behind him during this crisis for the sake of Mexico. Heh. That's just what he told us after the fishy results of the 2006 election, and just what he tells us as he maintains course on his belligerent, destructive, and largely failing war against the narco cartels.
As peppy as he portrayed the national effort against H1N1, there is more and more evidence emerging that Mexico could have prevented the worldwide outbreak. La Jornada reports that health authorities knew about a fatal new strain of influenza spreading in the country well before Barack Obama's mid-April visit, but didn't alert us until after he left. The governor of Veracruz, home to the pig farm-adjacent community where that charming 5-year-old swine flu survivor lives, said that since late March he had warned the federal health ministry about a strange gripa afflicting residents. He got little response.
People in the Perote Valley have long complained about local health and environmental damages caused by the nearby pork plant Grangas Carroll, but they were never heeded. Grangas Carroll is a subsidiary of the biggest pork-producing corporation in the world, U.S.-based Smithfield Foods, Inc. (Check out their freakish "cooking mom" autobot Paula Deen.) Now Smithfield is on the defensive; La Jornada is additionally reporting that two young children who lived in the area died of a severe respiratory illness between February and March.
Add fear to the outrage: Reuters details the sometimes-kooky swine flu conspiracy theories. Add loathing to the fear: right-wing radio entertainers in the U.S. are blaming swine flu on the "illegals." (Surprise.)
And, while we're on the subject, when will the president lift his extraodinary swine-flu special powers? On May 7, after these six days in which he basically ordered us to stay home? ... Or perhaps on July 6, just after the mid-term elections?
... Or maybe, juuust to be safe, after the next nationwide presidential elections ... in 2012?
** NOTE: Check out the latest podcast at Cyber Frequencies, where I am in conversation with Queena Kim on the swine flu scare, and appear in my hot new pandemic preparedness look. You can download the podcast here.
** NOTE 2: In UK's The Guardian, my posts and dispatches from the last week were finessed together into a swine flu diary. Check it out.
